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Jponu Colkgc Smes, 



Number 



Ninety -Two, 




BY MISS JENNIE M. BINGHAM. 



NEW YORK: 
PHILLIPS & HUNT. 

CINCINNATI: 
WALD.EN & STOWE, 



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The "Home College Series" will contain one hundred short papers on 
a wide range of subjects — biographical, historical, scientific, literary, domes- 
tic, political, and religious. Indeed, the religious tone will characterize all 
of them. They are written for every body — for all whose leisure is limited,, 
but who desire to use the minutes for the enrichment oflife. 

These papers contain seeds from the best gardens in all the world of 
human knowledge, and if dropped wisely into good soil, wi'l bring forth 
harvests of beauty and value. 

They are for ihe young — especially for young people (and older people, 
too) who are out of the schools, who are full of '•business" and "cares," 
who ore in danger of reading nothing, or of reading a sensational literature 
\hat is worse than nothing. 

One of these papers a week read over and over, thought and talked about 
at "odd times," will give in one year a vast fund of information, an intel- 
lectual quickening, worth even more than the mere knowledge! acquired, a 
taste for soVid read ng, many hours of simple and wholesome pleasure, and 
ability to talk intelligently and helpfully to one's friends. 

Pastors may organize "Home College" classes, or "Lyceum Reading 
Unions," or "Chautauqua Literary aad Scientific Circles," and help the 
young people to read and think and tali and live to worthier purpose. 

A young mau may have his own little "college " all by himself, read this 
series of tracts one after the other, (there will soon be one hundred of them 
readv,) examine himself on them by the " Thought-Outline to Help the Mem- 
ory." and thus gain knowledge, and, what is better, a love of knowledge. 

And what a young man may do in this respect, a young woman, and both 

old men and old women, may do. 

J. H. Vincent. 
New York, Jan., 18S3. 



Copyright, 1863, by Phillips & Hunt, Now York. 



lonxc College Series, ftttmbr fttrato-itoff. 



MARGARET FULLER. 



Margaret Fuller was born in Cambridgeport, Mass., May 
23, 1810. Of her mother, she writes : "She was one of those fair 
and flower-like natures which sometimes spring up even be- 
side the most dusty highways of life. Of all persons whom 
I have known, she had in her most of the angelic —that spon- 
taneous love for every living thing, man, beast, and tree." 
This trait Margaret fully inherited. Her father was a prac- 
tical New Englander. " To be an honored citizen and have 
a home on earth were made the great aims of existence." 
Margaret says : "His love for my mother was the green spot 
on which he stood apart from the commonplaces of a mere 
bread-winning, bread-bestowing existence." He had ranked 
high in college, and early determined to make his child the 
heir of all he knew, and as much more as the most thorough 
instruction could give. Thus she had tasks given her as 
many as the hours would allow, and on subjects beyond her 



age. 



She began to read Latin when six years old, and when eight 
years old, her recreation consisted in reading Shakespeare and 
Cervantes. The consequence of this forced education was a 
premature development of the brain that made her a youthful 
prodigy by day, and by night a victim of haunting dreams 
and somnambulism. "Poor child," she says of herself, "I 
look back on those glooms and terrors wherein I was envel- 
oped, and perceive that I had no natural childhood." Her 
study of Rome through its language gave her a love for 
that nation which afterward led her to sacrifice for its lib- 
erty. " The tramp and march of the language," she says, 
" would give one the thought of Rome. Who that has lived 
with those men, but admires the plain force of fact, of thought, 



MARGARET FULLER. 



passed into action, — no divinity, no unfulfilled aim, but just 
the man and Rome, and what he did for Rome." 

She was afterward sent to a boarding-school, where she 
was an enigma to teacher and school-mate. Her power to 
influence her associates, which later became so marvelous, 
was used by turns to attract and repel them. When fifteen 
years old this precocious young lady was studying Greek, 
metaphysics, French, and Italian literature. James Freeman 
Clarke, who knew her intimately when she was living so near 
the Cambridge College, has written an important part of her 
memoirs. " One thing only she demanded of all her friends 
- — that they should not be satisfied with the common routine 
of life — that they should aspire to something higher, better, 
holier, than they had now attained. Margaret possessed, in 
a greater degree than any person I ever knew, the power of so 
magnetizing others by the power of her mind, that they 
would lay open to her all the secrets of their nature. She 
was the center of a group very different from each other, 
and whose only affinity consisted in their all being drawn 
toward herself. Some of her friends were young, gay, and 
beautiful; some old, sick, or studious. But all, in order to 
be Margaret's friends, must be capable of some aspirations 
for the better. r 'And how did she glorify life to all ! All 
that was tame and common vanishing away in the pictur- 
esque light thrown over most familiar things by her rapid 
fancy, her brilliant wit, the inexhaustible resources of her 
knowledge, and the copious rhetoric which found words al- 
ways ready. Even then she displayed her wonderful gift of 
conversation which afterward dazzled all who knew her. She 
had no pretensions to beauty, but escaped the reproach of 
positive plainness by abundant hair, sparkling, busy eyes, 
usually half closed from near-sightedness, and the very 
graceful carriage of her head, which was the most charac- 
teristic trait of her personal appearance. Though her love 
flattered and charmed her friends, it did not spoil them, for 



MARGARET FULLER. 



they knew her perfect truth. They knew that she loved 
them, not for what she imagined, but for what she saw, 
though she saw it only in the germ. She was a balloon of 
sufficient power to take us up with her into the serene depths 
of heaven. Earth lay beneath us a lovely picture— its sounds 
came up mellowed into music. All her friends will unite in 
the testimony that, whatever they may have known of wit 
and eloquence in others, they have never seen one who, like 
her, by the conversation of an hour or two, could, not merely 
entertain and inform, but make an epoch in one's life. We 
all dated back to this or that conversation with Margaret, in 
which we took a complete survey of great subjects, came to 
some clear view of a difficult question, saw our way open 
before us to a higher plane of life, and were led to some 
definite resolution which has had a bearing on all our subse- 
quent career." 

She wrote to Mr. Clarke : " If I were a man, the gift I 
would choose should be that of eloquence. That power of 
forcing the vital currents of thousands of human hearts into 

le current, with that most delicate instrument, the voice, 

preferable to a more permanent influence." 

Up to this time the whole aim of Margaret Fuller's life 
nad been self-culture. She felt that she owed to herself the 
full development of all her powers. Afterward she learned 
that we must often be content to enter the kingdom of 
heaven halt and maimed. A letter to her mother says: "In 
earlier days I dreamed of doing and being much, but now 
am content with the Maglalene to rest my plea hereon, c She 
has loved much.' " 

She was a Transcendentalist in her reverence for individual 
reason and belief that divinity dwells in every human soul. 
When the movement developed into Socialism and founded 
Brook Farm, she visited the colony, but could not be induced 
to join it. 

It is believed that Hawthorne's character " Zenobia," the 



MARGARET FULLER. 



heroine of " Blithdale Romance " and his noblest creation, 
represented Margaret Fuller, whom he met at Brook Farm. 

Margaret had a friend who was a very devoted Christian, 
and she was never weary of talking with her about her faith. 
"I would gladly give all my talents and knowledge for 
such an experience as this," she said. " Several years after- 
ward," says this friend, " we were speaking of God's light 
in the soul, and in answer to my question whether it had 
dawned on her, she answered, "I think it has. But, O! it 
is so glorious that I fear it will not be permanent, and 
so precious that I dare not speak of it lest it should be 
gone." 

In 1833 her father removed to Groton, where, two years 
later, he died. She was just ready to accompany Miss Mar- 
tineau, on her return to Europe, when her father's death left 
her mother with five children to be educated on an em- 
barrassed estate. Margaret at once relinquished her plan, 
and went to Boston, where she taught in Mr. Alcott's school, 
and had a class in modern languages outside. R. W. Emer- 
son writes: "I became acquainted with Margaret in 1835. I 
still remember the first half hour of her conversation. She 
was rather under the middle height, always carefully and 
becomingly dressed, and of lady-like self-possession. Her 
extreme plainness — a trick of incessantly opening and shut- 
ting her eyelids, the nasal tone of her voice — all repelled ; 
and I said to myself, we shall never get far. She often made 
a disagreeable first impression on those who afterward became 
her best friends. She was every- where a welcome guest. All 
the art, thought, and nobleness in New England seemed 
related to her, but she was infinitely less interested in litera- 
ture than in life. She drew her companions to surprising 
confessions. She extorted the secret of life which cannot 
be told without setting heart and mind in a glow; and thus 
she had the best of those she saw. She was perfectly true 
to this confidence. The day was never long enough to ex- 



MARGARET FULLER. 



haust her opulent memory, and I, who knew her intimately 
for ten years, never saw her without surprise at her new 
powers. The test of this eloquence was its range. It told 
on children and old people, on men of the world and sainted 
maids. She could hold them all by her honeyed tongue. I 
regret that it is not in my power to give any true report of 
Margaret's conversation." 

The high estimate she placed on every human being in- 
cluded herself. She said to her friends : " I now know all 
the people Avorth knowing in America, and I find no intellect 
comparable to my own." Meantime her letters are marked 
by humility. Her Journal has this bitter sentence, " Of a 
disposition that requires the most refined, the most exalted 
tenderness, without charms to inspire it ! " 

Mr. Emerson says: " The loveliest and the highest endowed 
women were eager to lay their beauty, their grace, the hos- 
pitalities of their sumptuous homes, and their costly gifts, at 
her feet. When I expressed, many years after to a lady who 
knew her well, some surprise at the homage paid her by men 
in Italy — offers of marriage having there been made to her 
by distinguished parties — she replied, l There is nothing 
extraordinary in it. Had she been a man, any one of those 
fine girls who surrounded her here would have married her; 
they were all in love with her, she understood them so well.' 
Of personal influence she had more than any person I have 
known. An interview with her was a joyful event. Worthy 
men and women who had conversed with her could not for- 
get her, but worked bravely on in the remembrance that this 
heroic approver had recognized their aims." 

In a copy of Mrs. Jameson's " Italian Painters," against a 
passage describing Corregio as a true servant of God in his 
art, above sordid ambition, devoted to truth, Margaret wrote 
on the margin, " And yet all might be such." This book lay 
long on the table of the owner in Florence, and chanced to 
be read there by a young artist of much talent. '• These 



MARGARET FULLER. 



words," said he, months afterward, "struck out a new strength 
in me. They revived resolutions long fallen away, and made 
me set my face like a flint." 

She treated persons as a true portrait-painter does, who 
paints the face not as it actually is, but as creation designed, 
omitting the imperfections arising from the resistance of the 
material worked in. She saw them as God designed them, 
omitting the loss from false position, from friction of un- 
toward circumstances. 

The peculiarity of her power was to make all who were 
in concert with her feel the miracle of existence. Channin<r 
says : " Her presence seemed to touch even common scenes 
and drudging cares with splendor, as when, through the 
scud of a rain-storm, sunbeams break from serene blue open- 
ings, crowning familiar things with sudden glory." 
. About this time she wrote: "After much troubling of the 
waters of my life, a radiant thought of the meaning and 
beauty of earthly existence will descend like a healing 
angel." 

Concerning her wonderful power of conversation, it is said 
there has been no woman like her since Madame de Stael ; 
but while Margaret Fuller's conversation, in eloquence and 
effect, in sparkle and flow, was fully equal to that of the 
gifted French woman, it had, superadded, a merit which the 
latter could not claim— her power to draw out others. She 
not only talked surprisingly herself, but she made others do 
so. While talking with her they seemed to make discover- 
ies of themselves, to wonder at their own thoughts, and to 
admire the force and aspiration of their own characters. 
She made those who conversed with her forget to admire 
her in wondering at themselves. 

As a friend, she is tenderly and devotedly remembered by 
the large and miscellaneous class who knew and loved her. 
What an assemblage they would make if gathered together ! 
The rich and the refined, the poor and the humble, the men 



MARGARET FULLER. 



and women of genius struggling with destiny, the poet with 
his scorned and broken lyre — all these found in her a con- 
fidant to soothe their sorrows and a friend to encourage and 
point onward. 

" ' Sincere has been their striving ; great their love,' is a 
sufficient apology for any life," wrote Margaret. 

The events in Margaret's life up to 1840 were few, and not 
of that dramatic interest which readers love. She orga- 
nized, with great success, a school in Providence, where she 
taught two years. She translated and published works from 
the German, and having made the tour of the great lakes 
wrote an agreeable narrative of it, called " Summer on the 
Lakes." For two years she edited the " Dial," a philosophical 
magazine. In 1839, in answer to the wishes of multitudes 
of her friends, she opened a class in conversation. Seventy- 
five of the most intelligent women of Boston and vicinity 
were present at the first meeting. The reporter closes her 
account of it by saying: "Miss Fuller's thoughts were much 
illustrated, and all was said with the most captivating ad- 
dress and grace, and with beautiful modesty. The position 
in which she placed herself with respect to the rest was 
entirely lady-like and companionable." The interest in- 
creased, and a new series of thirteen more weeks followed. 
Margaret began them with an exordium, in which she gave 
her leading views. Of course, it was not easy for every one 
to venture a remark after an eloquent discourse, and in the 
presence of twenty superior women who were all inspired. 
But whatever was said, Margaret knew how to seize the good 
meaning of it, and to make the speaker glad, and not sorry, 
that she had spoken. In writing she was prone to spin her 
sentence beyond the sympathy of her reader, but in dis- 
course, never. When she was intellectually excited, as often 
happened, all deformity of feature was dissolved in the 
power of the expression, and the young people came away 
delighted with her "beautiful looks." A remark made by 



MARGARET FULLER. 



an eminent lady, who had previously been prejudiced against 
Margaret, was only an expression of the class: "I never 
heard, read of, or imagined conversations at all equal to 
these." 

The classes thus formed were renewed each year until 
Margaret's removal to New York, in \ 844. Thither she 
came as a contributor to the " New York Tribune," living 
in Mr. Greeley's family. Mr. Greeley says: "I did not fully 
appreciate her nobler qualities for some months afterward. 
Fortune seemed to delight in placing us two in relations of 
friendly antagonism. Margaret was always a most earnest 
champion of woman's social and political equality with man; 
her free access to all professions. To this demand I heartily 
acceded. But in my mind the equalizing theory can be 
enforced only by ignoring the discrimination of men and 
women, and regarding all alike as simply persons. In this 
view Margaret did not at all concur. Whenever she said or 
did any thing implying the usual demand of women on the 
courtesy and protection of manhood, I was apt, before com- 
plying, to look her in the face and exclaim, with marked em- 
phasis, quoting from her book, ' Woman in the Nineteenth 
Century,' * Let them be sea-captains, if they will ! ' Per- 
sonally, I regarded her as my wife's cherished friend, than 
as my own, possessing many lofty qualities and some prom- 
inent weaknesses, and a good deal spoiled by the unmeasured 
flattery of her little circle of inordinate admirers. For myself, I 
resolved to escape the fascination which she seemed to exert 
over the eminent and cultivated persons, mainly women, who 
came to visit her, and who seemed to regard her with a 
strangely Oriental adoration. But as time wore on, and I 
became inevitably better acquainted with her, I found myself 
drawn almost irresistibly into the general current. I found 
that her faults and weaknesses were all superficial. I learned 
to know her as a most fearless and unselfish champion of 
truth and human good, at all hazards ready to be their stand- 



MARGARET FULLER. 



ard-bearer through clanger and obloquy, and if need be, their 
martyr. I never met another in whom the inspiring hope of 
Immortality was so strengthened into profoundest convic- 
tion. With a limited income she was yet generous beyond 
the bounds of reason. Had the gold of California been all her 
own, she would have disbursed nine tenths of it in eager and 
well-directed efforts to diminish the flood of human misery. 
I think few persons in their pecuniary dealings have expe- 
rienced and evinced more of the better qualities of human 
nature than Margaret Fuller. Her love of children was one 
of her most prominent characteristics. She could narrate 
almost any story in language level to their capacities. Her 
powers of observation and imitation were so marvelous that, 
had she been attracted to the stage, she would have been the 
first actress America has produced, whether in tragedy or 
comedy. 

" One characteristic of her writings I feel bound to com- 
mend — their absolute truthfulness. She never asked how 
this would sound nor whether that would do, but simply, " la 
it the truth ? " And if her judgment answered, " Yes," she 
uttered it, no matter what odium it might draw down on 
her own head. 

"Profoundly religious, she won the confidence and affection 
of those who attracted her by unbounded sympathy and 
trust. She probably knew the cherished secrets of more 
hearts than any one else." 

W. H. Channing, one of her biographers, tells us how he 
was at first repelled by Margaret's decisive tone, her satire, 
and contempt of conventional standards. "But soon," he 
says, " I was charmed unaware with the sagacity of her sal- 
lies, the breadth and richness of culture manifested in her 
allusions, and, above all, her truthfulness. To her might 
have been applied the words used in describing George Sand, 
i Thou large-brained woman and large-hearted man.' " 

Margaret's charities and courtesies were not limited to her 



10 MARGARET FULLER. 

kindred. She fell at once into agreeable relations with her 
domestics, became their confidant, and rejoiced to gratify 
their tastes; and, in return, no lady could receive from serv- 
ants better attendance. " Around my path," she writes, 
"how much humble love continually flows. These every- 
day friends never forget my wishes, make no demands on me, 
and load me with gifts and uncomplaining service. 

Even in extreme cases of debasement she found more to 
admire than to contemn. She accepted an invitation to visit 
Sing Sing prison, and thus writes of it: " Sunday morning 
we attended service in the chapel of the male convicts. I 
never felt such sympathy with an audience as when, at the 
words ' Men and brethren,' that sea of faces marked with 
the scars of every ill were upturned, and the shell of bru- 
tality burst apart at the touch of love." So much were her 
sympathies awakened by this visit, that she rejoiced in the 
opportunity, soon after offered, of passing Christmas with 
these outcasts, and gladly consented to address the women 
in their chapel. "There was," says one present, "a most 
touching tenderness blended with dignity in her air and tone, 
as seated in the desk she looked around on her fallen sisters, 
and begun: 'To me the pleasant office has been given of 
wishing you a happy Christmas.' A simultaneous movement 
of obeisance rippled over the audience with a murmured 
' Thank you,' and a smile was spread upon those sad coun- 
tenances like sunshine sparkling on a pool. The address 
was full of good sense, hearty fellow-feeling, and pathetic 
hopefulness, which made so effective her truly womanly 
appeal." 

This intercourse with the most unfortunate of her sex led 
Margaret immediately on reaching New York to visit 
the prisons on Blackwell's Island. It was while walking 
among the beds of the hospital that an incident occurred as 
touching as it was surprising to herself. A woman was 
pointed out who bore a very bad character, being hardened, 



MARGARET FULLER. tl 



sulky, and impenetrable. She was in bad health and rapidly 
failing. Margaret requested to be left alone with her, and 
to her question, " Are you willing to die ? " the woman an- 
swered "Yes," adding, with her usual bitterness, "not on 
religious grounds though." Margaret then began to talk 
with her about her health and few comforts until the con- 
versation deepened in interest. When Margaret rose to o- , 
and asked, " Is there not any thing I can do for you ? " the 
woman replied: "I should be very glad if you will pray 
with me." 

Of the impression produced by Margaret on those who 
were but slightly acquainted with her, some idea may be 
formed by the following sketch: "In general society she 
commanded respect rather than admiration. All persons 
were curious to see her, and in full rooms her fine head and 
spiritual expression at once marked her out from the crowd; 
but the most were at first shy of what seemed conceit, and a 
harsh spirit of criticism, while on her part she seemed to 
regard those around her as frivolous and conventional. I 
remember I was surprised to find her height no greater, for 
her writings had always given me an impression of magni- 
tude. Thus I studied though I avoided her, admitting the 
while, proudly and joyously, that she was a woman to rever- 
ence. A trifling incident, however, gave me the key to much 
in her character, of which, before, I had not dreamed. It 
was one evening after a company where Frances Osgood, 
Margaret Fuller, and other literary ladies had attracted some 
attention, that as we were in the dressing-room preparing to 
go home, I heard Margaret sigh deeply. Surprised and 
moved, I could not resist saying, ' Why ? ' ' Alone as usual,' 
was her pathetic answer, followed by a few sweet womanly 
remarks, touching as they were beautiful. Often after, I 
found myself recalling her look and tone with tears in my 
eyes; for before, I had regarded her as a being cold and ab- 
stracted, if not scornful." 



12 MARGARET FULLER. 

Mr. Charming says: "Here was one fitted by genius and 
culture to mingle as an equal in the most refined circles of 
Europe, and yet her youth and early womanhood had passed 
away amid the drudging descendants of the prim Puritans. 
Trained among those who could have discerned her peculiar 
power, and early fed with the fruits of beauty for which her 
spirit pined, she would have developed into one of the finest 
lyrists, romancers, and critics that the modern literary world 
has seen. This tantalization of her fate she keenly felt. But 
the tragedy of Margaret's history was deeper yet. Behind 
the poet was the woman, the relying and heroic woman. The 
very glow of her poetic enthusiasm was but an outflush of 
trustful affection; the very restlessness of her intellect was 
the confession that her heart had found no home." "Faith 
almost gives way," she says, " to see man's seventy years of 
chrysalis." 

In 1846 Margaret had an opportunity to make the tour of 
Europe with some valued friends, and sailed in August. Her 
letters are full of adventure and interesting interviews with 
eminent people. Italian boatmen and maidens and Venetian 
gondoliers became her friends. She writes of a contadma 
who came every week in her rich holiday dress, bringing on 
one arm an immense basket of fruit, in the other a pair of 
live chickens, to be eaten, " for the honor and pleasure of her 
acquaintance." The old father of the family never met her 
but he took off his hat and said, " Madame, it is to me a 
consolation to see you." 

She spent the winters of 1847-48 in Rome. Here she 
met Marquis Ossoli, whom she afterward married. The cir- 
cumstances of their first meeting were peculiar. Soon after 
coming to Rome, she went with a party of friends to St. 
Peter's, the evening of Holy Thursday, to hear vespers. A 
place in the church was designated where, after the services, 
she and her friends should meet — Margaret being inclined, 
as was her custom always in St. Peter's, to wander alone 



MARGARET FULLER. 13 

among the different chapels. When, at length, she returned 
to the place assigned, her party had gone. In some perplexity 
she walked about, with her glass, carefully examining each 
group. Presently a young man of gentlemanly address came 
up to her, and begged if she were seeking any one, that he 
might be permitted to assist her, and together they continued 
the search. At last it became evident that her friends had 
gone, and as it was then quite late they went out into the 
piazzo to find a carriage. Owing to the delay there were 
then none, and Margaret was compelled to walk with her 
stranger friend the long distance between the Vatican and 
Corso. At this time she was able to converse but little in 
Italian, but their words, though few, were enough to create 
in each a desire for further acquaintance. This chance meet- 
ing prepared the way for many interviews, and before Mar- 
garet's departure for Venice he offered his hand and was 
refused. After her return to Rome, he became her constant 
visitor. She was watching with intense interest the tide of 
political events, and their bond of sympathy was their long- 
ing for liberty and better government. His brothers were 
in the employ of the Papal Government, and thus it became 
necessary that his marriage with so pronounced a liberal as 
Margaret, which occurred soon after, should be kept secret, 
else he would have been banished from Rome when he was 
most needed. 

When Mazzini was called to Italy, made a Roman citizen, 
and elected to the Assembly, Margaret's hopes were high. 
He had several interviews with her, and her admiration for 
him was unbounded. " Freely would I give my life to aid 
him," she says. From her window she looked out on the 
terrible conflict. When it was certain that the French would 
attack Rome, Ossoli took station with his men on the walls 
of the Vatican gardens, where he remained faithfully to the 
end of the attack. Margaret had at the same time the en- 
tire charge of one of the hospitals. Besides the little money 



14 MARGARET FULLER. 

raised from the Americans in Rome, they had scarcely any 
means to use. "I have walked through the wards with 
Margaret," says a correspondent, " and seen how comforting 
was her presence to the poor, suffering men. 'How long 
will the Signora stay ? ' ' When will the Signora come again? ' 
they eagerly asked. To one she carried books, to another 
she told the news of the day, and listened to another's oft- 
repeated tale of wrongs, as the best sympathy she could give. 
They raised themselves up on their elbows to get the 
last glimpse of her as she was going away. There were 
some of the sturdy followers of Garibaldi's Legion there, 
and to them she listened, as they spoke with delight of their 
chief, of his courage and skill." 

Thus while her husband was in danger, and her child far 
away from her in the country, she was serving Italy. In a 
letter to Channing, she says: "You say I sustained them; 
often have they sustained my courage; one kissing the pieces 
of bone that were so painfully extracted from his arm, and 
hanging them around his neck as a memento that he had done 
something for his country. One fair young man, who is 
made a cripple for life, clasped my hand as he saw me cry- 
ing over the spasms I could not relieve, and faintly cried, 
'Viva l'ltalia.' (Long live Italy.) 'Think only, dear good, 
lady,' said a poor, wounded soldier, 'that I can always wear 
my uniform on festas, just as it is now, with the holes where 
the balls went through, for a memory.' ' God is good, God 
knows,' they often said to me when I had not a word to 
cheer them." 

Before the coming of the French, while Margaret was 
traveling alone on a return from a visit to her child, she rested 
for an hour at a wayside inn. While there she was startled 
by the landlady, who with great alarm rushed into the room, 
exclaiming, " Here is the legion Garibaldi, and if we do not 
give all up to them without pay, they will kill us." For a 
moment she said she felt uncomfortable, thinking it quite pos- 



MARGARET FULLER. 15 



sible that they would take her horse and leave her helpless. 
But she had faith that gentleness and courtesy were the best 
protection from injury. Accordingly, as soon as they rushed 
boisterously into the house, she arose and said to the land- 
lady, " Give these good men wine and bread on my account; 
for after their ride they must need refreshment." Immedi- 
ately the noise subsided; with respectful bow^s to her, they 
seated themselves and partook of the lunch, giving her an 
account of their journey. When she was ready to go they 
waited upon her down to the steps with such gentleness and 
respectfulness of manner, that she drove off wondering how 
such men could inspire fright. 

Another instance of Margaret's power over people was 
"shown when she stepped between two Italians who had rushed 
at each other with drawn knives. Before the spell of her calm 
voice their fury melted away. With a sudden impulse the 
offender flung his knife upon the ground. Turning to 
Madame Ossoli, he knelt to kiss Jier hand, and then met his 
brother in a fraternal embrace. 

While she was shut up in the beleagured city, she seemed 
to hear, above the roar of the cannon, her child calling to 
her, and when she could get to him he was starving to death. 
" Every thing I had endured seemed light to what I felt when 
I saw him, too weak to smile, or lift his wasted little hand," 
the mother says. But incessant care brought him back to 
health. "I am tired out," she wrote; "tired of thinking 
and hoping — tired of seeing men err and bleed. Faith soars 
gs no more." But rest and peace brought an end to 
dy, and the following autumn and winter 
-ed in ] rence wei he happiest of her life. She was 
writing the Listory of Italy's struggle while her beautiful 
boy, Angelo, grew strong again, and ler husband, "who 
was a Roman noble, and more—eve noble Roman," be- 
came more ana more a true eompani 

On May 17, 1850, they set sail for America. Dark pre- 



16 MARGATET FULLER. 

sentiments concerning the voyage so overshadowed Mar- 
garet, that she would have turned back had it not been for 
her longings to see home and the necessity of getting her 
book published. July 16, the vessel was off the Long 
Island coast, and the pilot promised to land them in New 
York in the morning. But the breeze rose to a fierce gale, 
the boat was driven on to the sand-bars of Fire Island, and 
lay at the mercy of the maddened ocean. Several of the pas- 
sengers reached the shore, and it is believed Margaret might 
have been saved, but she would not be separated from her 
husband and child. After twelve hours of communion with 
death, the wreck sank with all on board. The only one of 
Margaret's treasures which reached the shore was the lifeless 
body of Angelo. The tribute which Margaret Fuller Ossoli 
would have paid to Italy's heroes was lost with her valuable 
life. But her prayer was granted, " O, that Ossoli, Angelo, 
and I may go together." 



MAB.G-AB.ET FULLER. 

[thought-outline to help the memory.] 

Where and when born ? Parents ? Early education ? Study of Latin and its 
influence on her ? What J. F. Clarke says of her and her friends ? Self-cult- 
ure? Transcendentalism? Zenobia? Christian faith? Teaching? What 
R. W. E. says of her personal appearance? Eloquence? Influence? Young 
artist ? Books ? Dial ? Class in conversation ? Mr. Greeley ? Channing ? 
Sing Sing prison? Woman in hospital? Impression on society? Europe? 
Marquis Ossoli? St. Peter's? Mazzini? Hospital? Incidents with Italians? 
Florence ? Home ? Shipwreck ? Her last work ? 



OTI.^TT r I\A.TTQTT_A. TEXT-BOOKS. 



i>io. '. Biblical Exploration. A Con- 
densed Manual on How to Study the 
Blhle. By J. H. Vincent, D.D. Full 
and rich 10 

>"o. 2. Studies of the Stars. A Pocket 
Guide to the Science of Astronomy. 
By H. W. Warren, D.D 10 

Iso. 3. Bible Studies for Little People. 
By Rev. B. T. Vincent 10 

No. 4. English History. By J. H. Vin- 
cent, D.D, 10 

iSTo. 5. Greek History. By J. H. Vin- 
cent, D.D 10 

No. 6. Greek Literature. By A. D. 
Vail, D.D 20 

No. 7. Memorial Days of the Chautau- 
qua Literary and Scientific Circle lo 

No. 8. What Noted Men Think of the 
Bible. By L. T. Townsend, D.D 10 

No. 9. William Cullen Bryant u.L 10 

No. 10. What is Education? By Wm. 
P. Phelps, A.M 10 

No. 11. Socrates. By Prof. W. F. Phelps, 
A.M 10 

No. 12. Pestalozzi. By Prof. W. F. 
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No. 13. Anglo-Saxon. By Prof. Albert 
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No. 14. Horace Mann. By Prof. Wm. 
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No. 15. Frcebel. By Prof. Wm. F. 
Phelps, A.M 10 

No. 16. Roman History. By J. H. ViR- 

.-Ht. D.D 10 

~* «cham and John Sturm. 

■ 'n the Six- 

Lv ■' . : w. 



No. 19. The Book of Books. By J. M. 

Freeman, D.D 10 

No. 20. The Chautauqua Hand-Book. 

By J. H. Vincent, D.D 10 

No. 21. American History. By J. L. 

Hurlbut, A.M 10 

No. 22. Biblical Biology. By Rev. J. 

H. Wythe, A.M., M.D 10 

•No. 23. English Literature. By Pi of. 

J. H. Gilmore 20 

No. 24. Canadian History. By Jame3 

L. Hughes 10 

No. 25. Self-Education. By Joseph Al- 

den, D.D., LL.D. 10 

No. 26. The Tabernacle. By Rev. John 

C.Hill 10 

No. 27. Readings from Ancient Classics. 10 
No. 28. Manners and Customs of Bible 

Times. By J. M. Freeman, D.D 10 

No. 29. Man's Antiquity and Language. 

By M. S. Terry, D.D 10 

No. 30. The World of Missions. By 

Henry K. Carroll 10 

No. 31. What Noted Men Think of 

Christ. By L. T. Townsend, D.D 10 

No. 32. A Brief Outline of the History 

of Art. By Miss Julia B. De Forest . 10 
No. 33. Elihu Burritt: "The Learned 

Blacksmith.'" By Charles Northend. 10 
No. 34. Asiatic History : China, Corea, 

Japan. By Rev. Wm. Elliot Griffls.. 14 
No. 35. Outlines of General History. 

By J. H. Vincent, D.D 10 

No. 36. Assembly Bible Outlines. By 

J. H. Vincent, D.D 10 

No. 37. Assembly Normal Outlines. By 

J.H.Vincent, D.D 10 

No. 38. The Life of Christ. By Rev. 

T L. Hurlbut, M.A 10 

The Sunday-School Normal 
?...' By J. H. Vincent, D.D 10 



fu^. 



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TRACTS. 



EEomae College Series. 

Price, each, 5 cents. Per 100, for cash, $3 50. 

The " Home College Series" will contain short papers on a wide range of subjects- 
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religious tone will characterize all of them. They are written for every body — for all 
whose leis-ure is limited, but who desire to use the minutes for the enrichment of life. 



MO W 

Thomas Carlyle. By Daniel Wise, 

D.D. 
William Wordsworth. By Daniel 

Wise, D.D. 
Egypt. By J. I. Boswell. 
Henry Wordsworth Longfellow. 

By Daniel Wise. D.D 
Rome. By J. I. Boswell. 
England. By J. I. Boswell 



The Sun. By C. M. Westlake, M.S. 

8. Washington Irving. By Daniel Wise, 

D.D. 

9. Political Economy. By G. M. Steele, 

D.D. 

10. Art in Egypt. By Edward A. Rand. 

11. Greece. By J. I. Boswell. 

12. Christ as a Teacher. By Bishop E. 

Thomson. 
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Man. By C. H. Payne, D.D. 
The Moon. By C. M. Westlake, M.S. 
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nen. 
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Edmund Spenser. By Daniel Wise, 

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China and Japan. By J. I. Boswell. 
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The Stars. By C. M. Westlake, M.S. 
John Milton. By Daniel Wise, D.D. 
Penmanship. 
Housekeeper's Guide. 
Themistocles and Pericles 

Plutarch.) 
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31. Coriolanus and Maximus. 

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24. 

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27. 

28. 

29. 
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France. By J. I. Boswell. 
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The Ocean. By Miss Carrie R. Den- 

nen. 

48. Two Weeks in the Yosemite and 
Vicinity. By J. M. Buckley, D.D. 

49. Keep Good Company. By Samuel 
Smiles. 

Ten Days in Switzerland. By H. B. 

Ridgaway, D.D. 
Art in the Far East. By E. A. Rand. 
Readings from Cowper. 
Plant Life. By Mrs. V. C. Phcebus. 
Words. By Mrs. V. C. Phcebus. 
Readings from Oliver Goldsmith. 
Art in Greece. Part I. 
Art in Italy. Part I. 
Art in Germany. 



39- 

40. 
41. 
42. 

43- 
44. 

45- 
46. 

47- 



50. 

5i- 

52- 

53- 
54- 
55- 
56. 
57- 
58'. 



(From 

(From 
(From 



38. 



59. Art in France. 

60. Art in England. 

61. Art in America. 

62. Readings from Tennyson. 

63. Readings from Milton. Part x. 

64. Thomas Chalmers. By Daniel Wise, 

D.D. 

65. Rufus Choate. 

66. The Temperance Movement versus 

The Liquor System, 

67. Germany. By J. I. Boswell. 

68. Readings from Milton. Part II. 

69. Reading and Readers. By H. C. 

Farrar, A.B. 

70. The Cary Sisters. By Miss Jennie M. 
Bingham. 

A Few Facts about Chemistry. By 

Mrs. V. C. Phcebus. 
A Few Facts about Geology. By 

Mrs. V. C. Phcebus. 
A Few Facts about Zoology. By 

Mrs. V. C Phcebus. 
Hugh Miller. By Mrs. V. C. Phcebus. 
Daniel Webster. By Dr. C. Adams. 
The World of Science. 
Comets. By C. M. Westlake, M.S. 
Art in Greece. Part II. 
Art in Italy. Part II. 
Art in Land of Saracens. 
Art in Northern Europe. Part I. 

82. Art in Northern Europe, Part II. 

83. Art in Western Asia. By E. C. 

Rand. , 



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